Mind Heist (TMR fanfiction: Post-TDC)
by camxand
Summary: Teresa didn't die, and neither did Newt. In the most sick twisted way - they somehow survive and arrived as the new student in the school. Everyone starts fresh - even Thomas didn't remember Teresa. No one remembers anything from the past - as it was the rules and guidelines from the government that their memory had to be wiped out.
1. The Beginning (Prologue)

In the paradise, there's a school named _Wicked, School Of The Bright and Talented._ The purpose of the school is to prevent future chaos.

What chaos?

 _The Flare._

 _The Flare_ is a form of biowarfare that had been affecting America -and perhaps, the rest of the world- in the last decade. The creator of _The Flare_ is still unknown, and was suspected it was created as a population control and one of a pharmaceutical company's strategies to make money. Even though the world is now populated with the _immunes,_ future problems awaits.


	2. The Induction

_I only ever cared for…._ , was the last thing that she remembered saying. She can't exactly tell when, where, and to whom - but she knew she said it with so much pain inside of her. A second after that, everything went dark. She could not hear nor see anything; perhaps, she was out for a couple of days before waking up to a scream in the middle of the night.

It had been two years since her settlement in this new country. It had been god-knows-how-long since she saw her family. She had been living from one foster house to another, from one city to another in less than a month or two. If she had to be honest, she couldn't remember anything very clearly. Where she's from, how she'd get there – or anything at all. All was a just bit of pieces like a bunch of puzzle that were not meant to be together. She can remember the faces of her family, the placed she lived before, and the time she was drowned, but that's it. Nothing else. When she got the invitation letter to go to the _Wicked, School of The Bright and Talented_ , she was more than happy.

The school had a very strange curriculum. Not only it is for people who are in their mid to late teen, but also because they did not emphasise science or social science; the only compulsory subjects were English, math, and physical education - especially in higher level. What was even odd was the fact they had something else. It wasn't potion class or magic class; rather it was something called second-grade compulsory degree (CD) and second-grade obligation (GO).

CD is a subject that the candidates enjoy or wish to focus and pursue in the future. It took her awhile before she decided she will be doing architecture and interior design while the boy on the other room circled on the information technology and computer science without no doubt. GO were made out of martial arts and weaponry. Martial arts are then divided into god-knows-how-much since it was three pages long. There was detailed instructions and explanation of each type of weapons and what they will be doing during the weaponry class. Somehow, it excites Dakota a little. There was a little fire burning inside of her though most of it was still empty and hollow. The boy, on the other hand, was the total opposite of Dakota. He doesn't know anything about weapons, fighting, hunting - or anything outside his comfort zone for that matters.

He was a quiet homeboy who loved technology. She was a quiet wild girl - a box of paradoxes that had a lot of energy to run around and explore her town. She was familiar with karate and Taekwondo, but were never friends. But they both had to make a decision if they want to stay. They both then randomly scribble into the paper without any second thought, and on almost instantaneously, walked outside the room and into the pre-event hall.

The school assembly happens every Monday. It was rather annoying since they had to sit there for an hour or so, listening to the principal rambles about unimportant stuff. But this time it was different. It was on Friday afternoon and instead of being grilled under the sun while listening to an endless lecture, the student had to go to a chill event hall. None of the students were aware on what was happening, and why were the lights were dimmed down, leaving a spotlight into the stage.

Then there's this guy in his forty walked into the stage, he introduced himself as the principal. He had this golden-framed monocle and a purple-red-ish hair that looked like birds nests. He tucked his shirt very neatly and occasionally wiped the sweat on his long forehead.

"Good morning everyone," even though he looked a little bit odd, his voice was surprisingly deep and firm.

He then briefed the student on what will happen that year, welcoming the new students, wishing luck for the final year student and so on. After a very long and boring talk, he then glanced to his left side, where she silently stood. He smiled and said, "we have two new students this year. Special one. What made them special is because they are a _survivor_."

He occasionally leaned down to the podium, trying to act cool and all. _But that just doesn't work_ , she thinks.

"Elizabeth Stonem will be joining you guys from today onwards. She will be in The Analysts, joining the form class of 1-2. Please do refer her as Teresa - at least on the school ground."

 _The Analysts_ , she mumbled. She never thought about it before. Heck, she was clueless on what it means, but she suspected it had something to do with the test that she took the other day. After the clapped fades, another boy was introduced. He was standing on the opposite side of where she originally stood. She didn't catch his name, but she knew where he will be joining, _The Sentinels_ , whatever that means.

Once he stood next to her, she can she that he was at least two inch taller than her. His hair was blonde, and his skin was fair. He looked rather young and skinny - but there was something about him that she couldn't shook off. She couldn't take her eyes off of him. She was curious. She does not know the name of the boy, but somehow she was sure that she knew him. She can guess that they weren't close before but she was sure that they probably once were friends. That short mop wavy hair and empty but firm stare felt so familiar.


	3. The First Day

Physical education was different in this school. Instead of playing sports or anything at all - for that matters, they focused on war battle and strategies as well as strength and conditioning. However sports were still compulsory - but it was off school hour.

It was fairly a big class, with about forty or fifty students inside.

There were two teachers; the guy was big and bulky. Every time he moves, his tight shirt made a little squeaking noise - as if it would rip off. The other one was lean, though you can clearly see that she was as fit as the other guy. She had this dark purple hair that went down in a pixie. Shortly after an introduction, the class then divided into two teams: Alpha and Beta.

So this is the weekly rundown for physical education class: on Monday the do simulation, on Wednesday they do strength and conditioning and on Friday they do something called battleground. The simulation is done inside this huge igloo looking building called The Dome. The "simulation" was just another name for a high-end tech capture the flag, and can be executed in real life - using a serum. What they do is the participant will be injected with a serum before they entered the dome. Once they are inside, their teamwork skills and individual skills will affect the location of the game, base, and whatsoever. The weapons itself were real though it was modified. However, once you got shot - you will feel the actual pain.

Teresa was in the same team with that boy from induction day. He was referred as "Newton" if she wasn't mistaken. The base camp for her team was deep in the middle of a forest, surrounded by tall trees and wild bush. After the first run battling in front of the enemy line, she ran back with a bunch of people to the base, carrying heavy automatic weapon. The base for her squad was also covered by an invincible vortex that only members can pass. The building was pretty simple; it was made from a wooden and only had a couple of beds for the injuries. Next to it were toilets, and adjacent to that was the administration office. In front of the building, more and more of modern and futuristic automatic weapons lied down on the ground, just in front of the wooden platform. She recognised a few of them: AK-47, M16, Heckler & Koch G3, Browning wz 1928, EPK, M12, Agraam 2000, Spectra M4, FN P90 and many more; but there were a lot that she doesn't know too. However, there are numbers of it that she never saw before. Like it wasn't made in this era or the past, rather something they would have in the future.

"Okay, listen up people. The first run was good - no man behind, no man down. But we did poorly in

term of striking," he paused, letting his deep voice echoed into the silence.

"We are going to do it again, but this time fully on planned and organised. First wave, second wave, and third wave attack. Before I brief you, I will ask you to choose your weapons for this run. In front of you are the weapons, some of them are modern futuristic and only we have it. You can only choose two, so choose wisely."

There were a lot of people, but Teresa was drowned in-between those less estrogen auras. She was the smallest and the shortest among of them. She was, perhaps the only female that runs in front of the enemy line, instead of running around with first aid like the other girls. And yet, somehow, his sharp eyes knew her existence. "You," he pointed at Teresa.

This was the first time that she actually looked at the building itself. The building was uprise by a wooden platform and surrounded by linoleum floors. It was painted in dull white, and there were only a couple of small windows. She was standing on the dirt, scheming through all the weapons that were laid down on the linoleum floors, just below the wooden platform. Only two weapons appealed to her: a semi-automatic 9 mm gun - perhaps it was M9. The other one, on the other hand were bigger than a handgun but smaller than a rifle. She was guessing it was some kind of modern sub-machine gun. It was pretty compacted in a dark dull colour. It looked promising, she thought. But then her eyes impulsively grab something else, a bigger one. It had a some kind of small telescope attached to it - it wasn't a telescope, more of a place to see and aim.

The heavy futuristic weapon felt cold on her hand, perhaps due to its unfamiliarity. She knew that she could only choose two and her mind were already set to the small handgun, but couldn't decide between the medium size and the slightly larger one. It's unfamiliarly made her curious. It wasn't just big, but long too. So she brought both and walked away and towards a smaller building near the base camp. It was a minute away the outside of force field of the base camp. It doesn't have any wooden platform like the main building; rather it was a perfect minimalist square building that was covered in white, with black rectangular windows.

She knocked.

There was nothing.

She knocked again, only to find herself that the door was unlocked. The room was simplistic white

with no decoration whatsoever on the wall. There was a rectangular brown mahogany table on the centre of the room. On the other end of the table, there was a middle-aged lady; her long golden blonde hair was unraveled behind her shoulder. Her face was solemn, yet there was a little kindness that radiated through her grey-ish eye, accompanying her big smile. At least, she assumed her eye colour were close to grey since she couldn't really tell due to the dimming light. There were two big guards near her, all wrapped against heavy metal armour from head to toe. When she look at her, she give a waving gesture to those guards, and then they leave. She sat next to her. Somehow, the room became smaller and darker and there was a red box in front of them. Then Teresa asked her, which one was a better weapon.

"You know which one, one is definitely better, but as the rule says, I cannot tell you. You have to pick on your own, based on your knowledge". Her calm responds only made her grew impatient. She knew that those machinery weapons were unusual; it wasn't a rifle, it wasn't a shotgun, or anything else that she recognise, no. It was different.

"Look, you were here for a reason. All of us are." She rose her voice a little but became slight softer after, "Please. Please, help me."

The lady at the end of the table did not answer her. Instead, she just smiled. She leaned forward and stretched her palm towards Teresa. In a blink of an eye, she grabbed her wrist, trying to pull one of the guns from her. Her thin eyebrows curved, her eyes became darker. Though the room lacks lighting, she could still see the shadow of her face, clearly. It wasn't as friendly as before. She became more and more fierce and impatient as she stand up and pulled Teresa's wrist towards her. Teresa swung her feet, right into her chest as she pushed the table away from her and ran towards the door. She was behind her. So close, she could feel her rage crept into her nerves. As soon as she pulled the door, she dragged her feet to propels forwards as fast as she could. She looked back for a second and saw the lady pulled the first trigger: bullet started to fly around her.

"HELP!" She screamed. Her throat was so dry from all of the screaming, but there was nothing. Her last cried had a lot tall guy's attention. All of them, in dark green clothes and short hair, turned their head around and faced her. Watching, silently. She managed to enter the 'bubble' - the front yard of the base camp, without any sign of the lady behind, and everyone else turned their back again - trying to chose which weapon they should pick. One of the guys had his eyes on her, straight, burning in anger. But no one said anything.

She then walked towards the front of the base, only to found that everyone had chosen their weapons; leaving her with nothing but the two modern weapons that she impulsively took. She didn't realise that she subsequently chose those weapons. She slightly regrets it, because she knew that now she had to fight with something unfamiliar.

There was a sudden force pushing her body from the back that made her lean forward. "What the fuck was that?" It was the boy from the induction day. "That was really stupid, Teresa. You were almost killed."

"We weren't supposed to go outside, weren't we?"

He shook his head.

His dark brown eyes looked a little bit weary, looking down like he was searching for something. When he lifted his head up, she realised there was a little anger on his voice. Fuck, I'm in a big trouble, she thought. He turned around and stops for a moment.

"I do remember you, you know. I don't know when and where, but I sense that you do too - somehow, remember me. I don't want you to get killed. Not now, or in the battlefield." his thick British accent lingers through her head. Before he could walk away Teresa called him again - half screaming "hey - what was your name again?" "It's Ferbert, Ferb for short. But I am referred as Newton here or Newt for short." He didn't turn around, he didn't lift his head up either and with that, he continued to walk.

She was glad that he remembered her, but in the same time she felt something was off. How come both of them knew each other - were they good friends before? were they perhaps, could've been a lover? and when or where did they first meet? All the questions filled her head, and yet she still cannot find any answer. The commander's voice broke her thoughts and she glad he did.

The second run was conducted in the same forest though they had to go deeper and faster into the enemy line this time. It was getting dark, and the haze was getting thicker, making it a little bit murky.

Her eyes and ears were focused to what was in front of her; there were no one else but her and the troops.

The first line was in the wood itself. The troops then split into four, with only two members in each team. It was an easy walk for Teresa and the boy that she'd been paired up, with only an occasional bullet fight. Obvious one. They either hid up on the trunk or in the bushes. Either it was luck or pure sense - she always spotted the enemy first and shoves a bullet down their throat. The troops meeting point were just a couple of meters away from the enemy's main base. There was a couple of little boxes of buildings that surrounded the main base, making it looked like a factory. From the entrance gate to the main base itself was protected with a force field of electrical fences.

It wasn't a real war, but it was real. She can feel every inch of it, the pain were real. But she knows something were off.

The commander appointed Teresa and Teresa alone to be the one that set-up the bomb. She was getting ready with her guns and everything, but Newton drags her, to stay with everyone and he went to fight and went inside instead, sacrificing himself. She was waiting for news, but she wandered off and ended up drifting away from the squad and was in a dark alley alone. The orange bricked-alley had a lot of wars and propaganda posters hung up. She was walking towards the light, still waiting for news. She became impatient and decided to go and find Newt.

She managed to go inside the enemy line only to found Newton tied up and beaten up in a small room just outside the enemy base camp. His face were all black and blue and part of his clothes wore torn. She felt guilty, he shouldn't end up like this - it was supposed to be her. But her mind snapped, and focused towards something else,

"Where's the bomb?"

"Don't worry, it's done. I was pretty reckless on my way out- " his words were shut by the footsteps outside the place. She waited next to the door, and when the tip of his rifle showed up she immediately pulled it towards her and twisted his arm. Smacking his head with the rifle and proceed to threw it way. She didn't want to shot him. She just wanted to knock him out, unconsciously. She pulled him to his feet, only to found herself swung back around to get a fast and powerful roundhouse kick in the ribs. Pain exploded against the side of her body as he threw a powerful kick

to her head. She started seeing stars, blinking blood through her eyes - though she didn't let him

defeated her. She threw a sharp punch to the jaw, a quick but heavy knee strike struck his chest, and finally a short twist on his body - as she snatched him to the ground. She gave a powerful head kick, leaving him with a pool of blood and an unconscious mind. She ignored the pain and bruises around her head and instead rushed to Newt and untied him from the rope. All they got to do was run.

On the bright side, the troops already cleared the road for them though they are waiting for Newt and Teresa to reach their line before they can blow the force field. A couple of the enemy's soldiers were behind them, running in full speed. Then bullet started to surround them. They clasped their weapon and shoot back a couple of time, blindly. They saw their troops in distant but couldn't run faster due to their injuries. A first wave of pain shocked Newton in the leg. He screamed to the ground and clenched his teeth when Teresa carried his shoulder. Blood was rushing, heart pumping. This time, they didn't have the time nor energy to turn back and blatantly threw bullets. Though the enemies, on the other hand, were advancing. Another bullet struck in mid-air, splatted onto Teresa's right shoulder and into her subscapularis muscle. The second time a bullet struck her, she collapsed.


	4. The Party Scene

When she woke up in the school hospital, there was a girl sitting next to her bed. Her face was covered behind a magazine. She lowered it down and started talking to her like they were long lost friends. She told her about how she dragged her back into the base camp - revealing that she was one of the nurses on guard during the simulation.

"I was worried. I thought you could've died. I admire you, you know" She paused for a while before continuing, "Sorry, I was rude, I'm Marie. I'm new here, too. Like you. But I didn't get any special introduction or anything; no girls have ever fought in the front line before.

You know, that guy Newt is having a party tonight - you should come", she smiled. She had this really bubbly personality that drew her light blue eyes brighter. Even though Teresa knew she had to make friends, but she shook her head.

"Well, I hope you change your mind."

 _Alright_ , she thought. She hated unnecessary social interaction, especially with people that she doesn't really know. But she knew that she needed a friend. No one else was nice enough to smile or introduce themselves to her. She needed to change if she wants to have a friend. So she did. His house was at least an hour drive from the city. It was silently sitting near the white sandy beach. The fencing that kept the house enclosed were somehow twisted and covered with neatly trimmed hedges. The loud sound echoed and filled the house and into the frontyard. A lot of people were dancing and chanting and drinking. No guests were allowed to be inside the house though the porch had a couple sitting spots. She sat down in a white sofa, observing her surrounding while drinking nothing but water. Even though she made a promise with Newt and Marie to at least stay for an hour, she couldn't take it anymore. It had only been ten minutes and yet, she was already bored and tired. "Hey girl, what's up!" A guy suddenly sat next to her. She only replied with a cold stare and an empty mind. It didn't stop him. "Wait, weren't you the girl that recklessly went out before _sir_ asked us too? The girl that were almost killed but got killed anyway?" He chuckles a little, spilling a little drink on his white shirt. "Don't worry, I'm not hitting on you, I'm 'gay'." But she didn't care she just want to be alone and shut everything off. Then she thought of pretending to hook up with him just so she can get out from that miserable hellhole. So she did what she had to do, she pulled his arm towards her, ordering him to follow her steps.

There were no stars beneath them, the dark dull sky was painted with one silver moon that were against a few lights that came from the top floors in front of them.

Silent buildings that had been gone to sleep surrounded them as it was already an early morning in the week. Perhaps, too early that everyone was sound asleep except the people who went out for the music that preach, the drinks to be tasted, and the eye-candy that shouldn't be wasted.

They went outside from the house and to the poolside. It was locked, but they manage to jumped over the fences. There was a moment of silence between them. He smiled at her, telling her that it was too cold for him and wanted her to be closed to him.

Her mind was racing through the spectrum of thoughts. From all the things she knew that she shall not do with a stranger, all the sin she had or will be committing, and all the things that she wanted to do tonight. More or less, the fear of being caught and dragged mercifully to this kind of mere addiction - to think, that to do this was okay terrified her. She knew that that night would turn into something else, not just an innocent conversation nor a kind gesture, but something bigger.

As the night grew colder, She begins to surrender to his warmth.

Mesmerised by how calm the night was, so raspy his voice was, and comfortable it was to be in his arm. Laying there, with a few conversation that respect her lack of enthusiasm of socializing for the evening, yet it was still confronting the cold breeze with the warm hug that made her didn't want to move away, and somehow, hoping the time would froze.

The guy looked at her with his natural tired eyes. He had really beautiful blue eyes and cracked in the middle of his chin. He smiled and made her crawl into his arm. She leaned forward slowly, staring at his lips, he closed his eyes and she pressed her lips at the edge of his for a fraction of seconds. It was merely a kiss.

"Don't be scared", he smiled.

She wasn't. She was more insecure than scared. She never did it before, a kiss - or any other type of intimate moment for that matter. But he somehow knew it.

He then broken the tense of ice that surround her, "don't be afraid. You'll meet terrible kisser and good kisser in your life, it doesn't matter, it's just a kiss. Even if it's your first time" he winked. "Especially because I don't judge."

She couldn't remember how she gets there, to be buried with his confronting scent while he slowly works his way to put her nerve at ease. She was adjusting her position when he came a bit closer to her, closer and closer until she could feel his lips pressed against hers.

His breath was around her neck. She could feel his chest so closed to her. She could feel him breathing, the same air. His lips were soft and dry in the same time, licking every inch of hers.

Then all of the sudden, she dived in.

Responding to his fast paced movement, copying whatever he was doing. It wasn't rushing or passionate. It was more like a rough kiss that two stranger would exchange when they are drawn into lust. He opened his mouth a little. His tongue was constantly pushed, trying to break in.

He smiled, and said, "You're good, honestly."

She stopped a couple of times, leaned backward, denying his words, wanting to stop at that very moment, yet, begging for more.

"You're beautiful," he whispered.

It didn't arise any desire in her, to hear that she was beautiful. Somehow she felt like she wasn't. He kept complimenting her while she kept answering stupidly. When he told her that she had a nice leg, she responded with, "yeah, I run". Should have said, "yeah? I don't work out you know". Even with her horrible social skill that made things awkward, he managed to smile and keep going.

Salty and dank. She couldn't touch his sandy blonde hair nor his face. She could see his perfectly strong jaw. Instead, her hand was frozen and set to lingers around his hard chest, slowly moving down to his stomach and down south further.

She didn't want to go further.

She didn't want him to go under either.

"Trust me'" he whispered softly. But she didn't. She didn't let him explore the curves that were hiding beneath the dark blue dress; she didn't let him feel the soft pearl skin that was covering her body. Like a lot of young girl, she didn't like her body and somehow feel embarrassed, despite the fact that she was fit and lean.

"I didn't shave," she said, hoping he would stop wandering around her body.

He didn't care.

Either that or perhaps the thirst drove him further. It felt weird, to do it with a stranger. It felt odd to be straight running to the second base and almost to the third with someone that she completely didn't know.

Confusion mixed with panic drove her to stop. She was sure that he was gay, but why did he dive in with her? Then she whispered, "I have to go now", leaving him and the party behind.

She didn't realised how tall and he was until they met again in school. He was perhaps around 180 cm with a broad shoulder, making him looked like a sportswear model. Perhaps, he was. He winked at her, only to make her upset. She was more upset due to the fact that he was flirting with his surrounding: a bunch of hormonal teenage girls that were desperate to be groped.

"He wasn't gay", she mumbled. _That was really stupid and I can't believe I fall for that_ , she thought. She chose to ignore him and proceeds to sit in the empty table.

"Hey I know you!" he said proceeding to sit next to her.

"Maximal satisfaction is guaranteed", he pointed to himself "but you left me hanging there. Not cool."

"What are you talking about?"

"People call me Captain for a reason darl," he pointed towards his crotch and continued, "I can guarantee it's a maximum satisfaction-" but before he can finish, someone smacked him in the head.

"Oh my god, _Stece_. Not here," he chuckled a bit and proceed to sat down next to him. "I'm Dong Nguyen or DNS - but it's "Minho" around the school ground. This is my step-brother Eustace or "Galileo" around here-" "-But do call me Gally" "Yeah. Anyway - sorry for that, he can be a _wanker_ sometimes."

Minho was as big as Gally but slightly shorter than him. There was a distinct difference too between them. Obvious. Minho a big strong asian guy that had his black hair swept back while Gally had his in a crew cut.4


	5. The Project

"Dude, that new chick is staring at you"

"What, where?"

"That chick in the car," Minho pointed his chin towards a black sedan just opposite of them.

Her eyes were glued to him, but she didn't smile. Thomas couldn't tell either if the girl was interested in him or not. Heck, he couldn't even tell if she was staring at him or staring pass through him.

"Are you sure she's looking AT me?"

"Yeah, dude - defo! Go and say hi to her!"

She got off the car and started walking towards them. Once she was getting closer, it became clearer that she was indeed, staring at him. It was the second time that he saw her around school ground. He didn't catch her name - weren't even aware of her hair colour, until that very moment. Her hair was perhaps a little brighter under the sun. Her skin was fair, and she was quiet thin but not small. There was a warm untangled feeling, something inside of him beg to be explored. His ribcage felt smaller as if his heart somehow were in a rage. It felt so familiar, yet he was confused by himself. He thought he saw her somewhere before, but couldn't recall anything.

When she was getting closer towards Thomas, he eagerly smiled at her and said,

"Hey..." She passed him coldly without saying any word.

"Ok - see you then" waving at her as he rolled his eyes so hard that he might as well see the inside of his head. Minho, on the other hand, was laughing hysterically, "Oh shut up Minho!" he grumbled.

"Don't worry I'll find a way for you to _get to know_ her!" Every time he smiled, his eyes disappear - which somehow makes Thomas laugh a little. This time, however, he wasn't smiling, "Yeah - no, I'm good Shank" "Nah, yeah - don't lie to me Tommy, you're blushing right now!" he pointed at Thomas' red cheek and continued to laugh "what?! NO I'M NOT!" "can you keep a straight face then?" _alright_ , he thought. Thomas sometimes wonder if Minho's breakfast was a laughing gas or some sort as he seemed to be always cheerful, if not laughing. Even on Monday morning. Heck, even if he's throwing sarcastic comments he can still sound cheerful. Yet, cheerful and sassy Minho was in all definition - better than irritate and annoyed Minho.

"you know, she was in our class for _simulation_."

"Huh? How come I didn't know that?"

"I think because we were in team _Beta_ and she was in team _Alpha_ along with that _grenie_ Newt. She's also in my English class, you know."

"yeah? what was her name?"

"Teresa, if I was not mistaken"

He snuck a little smile when he mumbled her name again, just in time to hid it from Minho. The clock strike nine, and yet - they were still walking through the hall. The dull brown floor somehow loomed in front of him. The hallway seemed a little bit brighter in the morning, with a bunch of closed frosted doors pressed against the clay looking wall.

"So get this... the other day Teresa..." he left his sentences hang as he saw Thomas' lips started to widened a little bit.

"I KNEW IT!" Minho spat with a cheeky smile, "I knew it you ARE into her!"

Thomas tried to keep calm and pulled his face with both of his hand. But he couldn't, his voice was filled with frustration, "Wait, no... NO I WAS THINKING SOMETHING FUNNY"

"Yeah right, don't worry _shank_ , I'll _wingman_ you"

"Whatever - come on', we're going to be late"

He fastened his walked and left Minho behind. When Thomas slid his classroom door, he was surprised that Teresa was in the class. His thoughts bounced through his head, he ruffled his hair and stood silently on the doorway.

"Move ya lazy bum, ya _slinthead_!" a deep voice behind him cut his thought. It was Gally. Gally can be a _wanker_ sometimes, but somehow Thomas was okay with it. Thomas wasn't necessarily fond of him though he didn't hate him either. After all, they were in the same group of friends.

He walked towards his desk, followed by Gally and then Minho behind him. Gally sat at the back but just in front of Teresa with Sigmund, or Siggy for short (though commonly known as frypan). Thomas, on the other hand, sat nearly in front with Minho. He kept looking back towards her and felt a little hot as he saw Gally being all too friendly with her. He was so tempted to move next to Teresa but he couldn't leave his man behind so he decided to silently observed her. He'd been awkwardly running his finger through his hair, touching his face and lips as he turned his face a coupled of times towards her. She did notice him staring at her. She even playfully glanced to him, too. Minho, on the other hand, had been sitting silently next to Thomas watching him spin his head around like a maniac.

"You know what dude, I'm gonna spice things up a bit. My lab partner is now that guy" he pointed out to Newt. "See ya, _shuck_ face - good luck!" he winked as he lightly smacked Thomas' head.

Thomas immediately jumped from his chair and proceed to walk towards her and sat beside her. He was normally an awkward shy boy, but somehow he had this gut to just walked towards her and introduce himself.

"Hey - I'm Thomas. I saw you were staring at me."

There was a slight paused.

"I look at a lot of people, but doesn't mean I want to... _get to know_ them." she replied.

 _Shit,_ Thomas thought. _This girl is colder than ice cap frozen cold!_ he mumbled. But there was just something about her that made him stay. Something about her that made him fought back with a silly grin and an awkward laugh, trying to act cool. But he couldn't contain himself.

"Well, guess you have to- _"_ He looked at Minho and pointed towards him, _"_ See that guy over there? My boy Minho just _dumped_ me over that new guy Newt. You are my new partner now in this class!" he smiled.

She didn't reply him. She just sat there, staring at him. It made him more nervous.

"Alright everybody, settle down - settle down. Welcome back to school, yada-yada yada I'M SKIPPING THE BORING INTRODUCTION - apart from your targeting skills, this term's project will also be focusing on your skill to develop a new type of weapon - any type. This assessment will be a _paired work_ , and I assumed you all already have one since the last term."

A kid with a shaggy brown hair raised his hand up, but before he could say anything the teacher pointed at him and said, "NO DOUGLAS - you **cannot** change your partner unless you are new here"

"Which reminds me... welcome to the class, Newt and Teresa... ANYWAY"

He seemed to like to risen his voice up in the beginning or at the end of his sentences. He was a big guy. Not in a scary-bulky-big kind of way he wasn't fat either, he was just... big. It was the first class of the day, yet he was already sweating. His cream polo shirt had a black oil stain near its collar and was perhaps a size too small. Like what is wrong with the teachers in this school, can't they afford a right fit size shirt for themselves?

He further continued to explain what they will be doing for the rest of the term. Mostly paired project that focused a new brilliant innovative technology that can kill and heal or a weapon that can kill on an instant and an antidote for it.

"...something to kill and something to heal."

He was continuously fixing his cream cap that sat neatly on his head in every other sentence. Thomas sometimes wonder if he had a bald spot to hide as he seems to be **always** wearing a golf hat. Or perhaps, he was an avid golfer, going to a golf course every day after school hours - who knew?

Gally was sitting in front of them, he occasionally turned around to Teresa and making random yet lame sexual jokes about any word that the teacher explained such as "Organophosphate? More like an _orgasm... post fate_ ". She laughed a little. Either it was more of a pity or purely laughed, he still loved her laughter. Though He'd been grinding his teeth and tried his best to keep his mouth shut. It slowly grew into his skin, filling his blood. It made his brown eyes darken as he curled his hand into fists, itching to swung out and put a dent in Gally's face. He hoped something or someone would just stop him from talking to her. A moment later a chalk flew towards them,

"GALLY SHUT UP! I AM TEACHING IN FRONT!" his rounded red face illuminated with sweat. He pulled his pants that hung just below his knees a little, and continued "Bottom line, this assessment will be due on the end of the term and we will having a theory for today."

 _Ugh, theory,_ he thought. He hated sitting in class, one of his legs kept bouncing upside down while his hand kept fidgeting with the pencil in front of him.

They were learning about something called, _chemical warfare and electrothermal-chemical technology_ in _weaponry_ class _._ Mister Gunner was still babbling in front, saying things that were hard to discern for him - either that or it was his short attention span that troubled him.

The class that looked a little bit like a conference room only had six lab tables that lined up towards the back. There were no windows nor any outside light went through the class. The only source of lights was the ceiling lights above them that slightly looked like colourless launchpad. Both sides of the walls were decorated with weapons, and at the back of the class there was a door that leads to an underground weapon center (consist of shooting range, experiment lab, and test lab) as well as a long purple wardrobe that looked like a sculpture. Mister Gunner went across the class, slid the glassy-square door and pulled up a white firearm from the _fancy_ wardrobe.

It was just as big as his arm. It didn't look like one, even an insult for calling it a firearm. There was no _barrel_ or _muzzle brak_ e or _hand guard;_ even the pistol grip was quite small. It was more of a thick-hand-saw with a black telescope attached to it. However, it's ability were far more superior than the average firearm.

"This is a new technology - developed by one of the bright Wicked students last year. They took the concept of a _nerve gas_ and applied it in a bullet form for this assault rifle - in which they designed it too."

The gas that he was talking about can kills through the disturbance of the transmission of nerve impulses in the nervous system. It was even deadlier in the form of gas, as it could spread easily and can last for about a month or two.

"Within few seconds after it penetrates the skin, you're dead."

The toxic that he was talking about was called _VX._ It was in a formed of gas or some sort though they managed to re-construct it into a liquid and kept it inside a bullet. He then gave the bullet to Aris and Sonya. They then continued to pass it around once they were finished observing it. The bullet was pretty small and light. It had a pointy edge and bulky body, it looked a little bit like a _5mm/35 SMC_ , though it was smaller. The brownish oily liquid inside the bullet was dancing when Thomas shook it. He wondered why did the inventor made it transparent, rather than coil it with some short of dark metal. It was the scariest thing that he had to hold, yet it sat comfortably warm between his fingers.

"Hey, kid - be careful with that! I told you it can kill you in less than a minute!"

"Sorry Sir - didn't mean to, I was just curious..." he passed it on to Teresa and let her observe the little thing.

She held it carefully but gracefully like it was some sort of antique jewellery. She pulled the bullet closer to her face. There was a very lively as well as curious expression in her eyes, but most impressible was the deep passionate look that she had.

Thomas realised that he had been staring at her. He had to admit, he loved the way she looked at things. How calm and peaceful she was, it made him smile a little.

"Teresa, babe, passed me up the thing, please"

"Don't call me babe, Gally" her eyebrows contorted a little bit while she shook her head.

"Aww sorry," he said with the most annoying face ever, it made Thomas sick in the gut. He then extended his arms and hug her shoulder by the side, taking the bullet from her, "Cheers aye"

Teresa didn't spoke that much. But when she does, her raspy voice somehow played all over again in Thomas' head - like a broken voice recorder of a mesmerizing melodies. He wanted to hear more "You know... just by thinking of the weapons that we are continuously developing and exploring... it seems pretty crazy, huh? I mean the world we live in right now is just _batshit_ crazy."

"Yeah maybe"

"Teresa... aren't you scared?"

"No."

"What? Really? You have to be scared of something-" a voiced suddenly echoed through his head, _You're human - you should be scared._ "I mean... you're a human... you should be scared" he continues, smiling at her.

"No, I am not scared, Tom. There's nothing to be scared of. People only scared of what they don't know or understand"

"So you know everything"

"No. But I'm not scared of it."

Before he could replied, the bell rang. She stood up and left him in the class, without saying anything.


	6. The Trials

The lesson was to go undercover. It was a similar simulation with the one that they had to go inside a huge igloo-looking building, but instead moving around, they had to be asleep. What they did was, there was a bracelet enhanced-chip that needed to be inserted to their veins. After that, they lie down on the chair and have their head in some sort of google-helmet. She wrote down the person who she wanted to be paired up with in this mission and handed it to the teacher. The target was not only successively go undercover to find some kind of villain and disarmed him, but also to be aware that they were in a dream and being able to wake up from it- since they cannot control it. When they said, "wake up" from it, they meant a forceful one, not due to some kind of near death or any other incident-related in the dream.

When Teresa woke up, she was underwater. She began swimming towards the surface of it. When she finally able to breathed in some fresh air, people were screaming at her to not cross the line. She then realized that she was exactly at the same line with two tall poles that had a string attached to it from one to another, making it looked like a giant volleyball net, minus the net itself.

She knew that she needed to swim back immediately and be on the wooden boat with them, for whatever reason. It was a pretty gloomy day with dark clouds filled up the skies. She wasn't sure if it was early in the morning or late at night. It could even be in the middle of the day. When she climbed back to the boat, she realized she didn't know any of those people. Her eyes darted back and forth, searching up through the other boat, looking for any of her classmates. The middle age people told her to not be worried as she was safe now, but she felt a little unease, as she still couldn't find Thomas. He was supposed to be her partner in this simulation, but where did he go?

"Is there anything unsafe around here?" Teresa asked the person next to her.

"Oh yes dear, behind those lines, lies a predator called Liopleurodon. Those carnivores lurked in the deep sea and they are a strong swimmer as they had four strong paddle-finned like limbs and flippers. They also have sharp teeth! That's why we shouldn't cross that line" she pointed towards those towers again, and continued, "Those lines protect us from them with some electricity. We need to go back to the towers and get out of here"

"Yes, but you forgot about one thing Margaret" an old guy, roughly her ages spoke.

"Oh yes, we also need to be careful on land. Especially throughout the forests. Wolves, grievers and other unknown creature can attack you. But they only attack you when you are alone so we have to stay in a group"

Grievers, where did she heard that word before? It sounded so familiar, she thought.

Margaret then continued, "Especially the Grievers, they are like metal-fanged creature that will stab you, doesn't matter if you are with a group of people or alone. I hope there's no Grievers tonight," she shivered.

Margaret and the guy were probably about 60 years old or so. There were some other old people on the boat, but the majority of them looked around 40 something. Margaret was a lovely lady; she had a warm smile that shows all her teeth. Her teeth were surprisingly white, as white as her curly hair that was covered with a blue bandana.

"Why did you jump and dive deep into the water, dear?"

"I just…" she glanced at her hand.

"I drop this, it's my mum's" she smiled and showed her a small golden locket.

When they finally reached the shore, a guy in a blue-striped uniform greeted them. His uniform was ridiculous, as ridiculous as his moustache. However, as soon as he spoke, everything turned serious. His voice was strong and firm, and it somehow echoed,

"Ok everyone, we have to run from here, don't get lost!"

They were surprisingly fast.

Even Margaret was faster than her.

She kept running and running until she saw a wooden tower. She got way behind from everyone else and something -shadow liked creature- was starting to chase her. There was a metal clicking sound, getting closer to her by the second, but she didn't want to look back. The forest seems long and confusing, like a maze-like-area, there were dead ends and such. When she finally managed to escape from the forest, she was back to where she came from: near the ocean. She was relieved, but confused in the same time, because all she had to do was run straight along the ocean. When she managed to enter the gate of the tower, the only escape was through that weird little thing. She had no idea what the thing was. All she saw was people were holding hands, yelling, "Go!" and fell into a hole afterwards. There was marked on the soil, four-square-liked was carved down into it and the edges of it glow every time someone stepped into it. It was her turn now. She was nervous. The weather didn't help either, instead of being less gloomy, it begin to rain. She closed her eyes and waited till she dropped. But there was nothing.

"If you don't have faith, you can't and don't deserve to continue" the tower guard spoke

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!" she screamed out of frustration

She tried to focus and believed, but it won't let her through. The only exit from that weird place was through that thing, and yet it won't let her. What faith? She thought. She wanted to believe, -believe in anything- but she couldn't.

When it finally let her pass, everything turned dark. She was accelerating downward, her body floats in mid-air and there was no sign of living. Once she hit some kind of metal, her body begins to push upwards and clicking noises begin to rose. The lights begin to dim and elevator sound started to crept in. She wasn't wearing the clothes that she had worn earlier, instead black leather jacket and black skinny jeans covered her body. The only thing that stayed from the earlier event was her boots though it was already dry. She realized she was holding a grey calculator - for some reason. When she turn it back, there were a list written in white chalk:

Don't get killed

Don't get lost

Do find him

She couldn't understand why the word him was bolded and underlined. She didn't even understand who was him. She tried to remember, but there was nothing. There were faces, familiar one, but none of it added a significant meaning to it. There was, however, one face that glows. But it was pretty blurry. The only thing that she knew about that person was that he had round chubby face and a thin black hair that was neatly swept back. The lift finally stopped on level 10. She didn't know what to do - or what to expect. She opened the calculator in hoping for a clue and found a white card and a key. It was her room key. She went back to her hotel room and found Thomas was standing there, waiting for her.

"What's wrong? You look so tense," he said with a straight face and monotone voice

"Nothing - I just…. tired"

Thomas then leaned towards her. Their lips meet. And in that moment, one could've sworn the event pans out into another room, where Teresa stood with her loose billabong shirt. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer to her as they begin to kiss, without hesitation. It was getting hot and heavy, Thomas couldn't take it anymore, he made the first instinct to pushed her towards the bed. His fingers begin to travel downwards, and with the last clicking sound from his zip, he leaned towards her and began kissing her from the top. In that moment, somehow it crawled back into Teresa's conscious. There was a little moaning-like-noise echoed from the other room. With that sound blazing through her ears, she immediately pulled back from him and ran her finger through her lips. She could still feel his present, but she knew it was just a shadow and the noise from the other room slowly faded away. Thomas didn't say anything, he just gazed through her eyes and pulled her back to bed, and with that, they fall asleep.

When she woke up, she found him still asleep. She was still wearing the same shirt and pants as of yesterday. She cleaned herself a bit and went straight away to the lobby. The lobby was huge, like a busy train station, with a water fountain in the middle of the room. Everyone was walking fast, coming in and outside of the building and yet, her eyes picked up his presence. Thomas was walking towards her in a neat tux. He smiled at her and waved,

"You looked good,"

"What? No… I'm just wearing a…"

She looked at her reflection and realised she was suddenly wearing a blue dress with an open back and a white pearl hanging on her neck. That's odd, she thought.

"…a beautiful dress that perfectly suits you?" Thomas chimed in.

She just smiled at him and didn't say anything. She felt odd. She knew that she didn't change and was wearing a white shirt and a leather jacket before, so how the heck did she managed to put on a dress instead? Even though it was a simulation, according to the manual it was impossible to jump-cut through something. You had to do the process; it's not like in a dream.

A sound of a canon echoed from the distance, marking one of the tasks she had to do. All she need now was the other two.

Thomas' hand finds hers and he began to pulled her closer. She looked at his hand that were already tangled to hers, and asked him in confusion,

"What are you doing?"

There was a pause. Thomas looked down to his hand, unravelled it from her and said, "Oh sorry, I thought-"

"No, never mind, it's ok," she reached back for his hand. They walked towards a casino and stood in front of it for a while. "Are you sure about this, Tom?"

"Absolutely not"

When they opened the door, a wind blew their face. The room was quiet dark but at the back of the room, a spotlight shone a table. It was the lightest out of all. Teresa noticed someone in that pool of crowds,

"Hey Tom, you see the guy over there? Under the spotlight?" half whispering to Thomas

"The one on blackjack table? With a weird hair? Yeah"

"Do you think…."

He knew what she was going to say. The face looked familiar to him, rounded face and thin black hair with a crooked smile and missing teeth. They both agreed to investigate more on that person and decided to play with him, hoping to find a significant meaning to it.

"Don't worry, I got this" Thomas confidently entered the room and walked towards the table, acting like he was a high roller, buying in for $300 at a $100 minimum bet. Teresa was astonished, she didn't know that Thomas knew how to play, "You know how to play?"

"Absolutely-"

"You are a live saver!" she shrieked with relief.

"…Not"

"You are the worst!"

"Shhh they don't know that, all we gotta do is fake it till we make it," he said in a very low and calm voice.

"I wish it was a roulette table instead, much easier" she whispered

"Yeah well it's not, and we just have to deal with it and figure out how to play"

Once they both sat down, the older guys begin to flirt with Teresa, in which she responded them with a bitter cold face. During the game the-weird-looking-guy opened with a $20,000 bet, and Thomas raised it to $30,000. They kept raising their bet until Thomas exploded with $250,000.

Thomas seemed confident, but Teresa wasn't enchanted with his move. She was staring at him wordlessly with her eyebrows knitted together in thought.

"Tom, what are you doing?"

"No idea"

Surprisingly, Thomas begin to win, and drinks were starting to pour at him.

"You didn't order that," she whispered to him and she placed the drink back on the table. One of the guy next to Thomas drank it instead. As soon as he swallowed the liquid, his body dropped to the ground. There was stains and mark across his body though the dark brown stain didn't stop there, it was around his lips, chin and cheeks as well. He smells a little funny too. It was funny because no one else had noticed him lying on the ground, grasping for air. Thomas was staring at him, his eyes darker and looked about to popped up. The rest seemed to not care and was still all over Teresa. She got so fed up with it, she took a break and went to the bar, followed by Thomas.

"Hey, you ok? You don't look so well" he offered her a drink, but she shook her head.

She was still pissed but kept her eyes on the weird-looking-guy. After all, she suspected that he was probably the one that poisoned one of the players -that was meant for Thomas- that happened a minute ago. She saw him whispering to one of the waiters and gave him money and some kind of pills. He was staring at her, no, he was glaring at her - his eyes was on fire. His face was illuminated with a grin. Though her view changed when Thomas stood up and tried to ease her. He pulled her closer and kissed her. In that moment she thought something was off, like… like it wasn't artificial. Like the lips that were kissing her was real.

The computer screen of the teacher encountered something weird as well. Somehow, Teresa's screen was pitch-black, like something was blocking the view. Luckily, the teacher weren't there to investigate further.

Of course, Teresa wanted to investigate further, but before she could pull away from Thomas, a fire started to burn in the distance. There was an explosion in her chest. The room was starting to be filled up with smokes and an explosion sound finally snapped into her. The whole room was blown out. With that, she woke up.

When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a white ceiling. A smell of hospital-like-alcohol tingled into her nose. She realised she was back in the classroom. The white light shone into her, forcing her to squinted her eyes. When she finally able to adjust her sight, she saw none of her classmate was awake yet, not even Thomas. She walked across the room and into the teacher's table. She saw the screen and how it had monitored all the student's activities while they were in the simulation. Everyone was still moving lively, bright coloured and all, except one screen: Teresa. There was nothing in her screen, and when she keyed in to see her history: there was nothing. It was like she haven't participated in the simulation at all. Her forehead crinkled, and when she pressed enter, there was some scene -not all of it- that showed up on the screen. Apparently, according to the machine, she started in the elevator and ended with the bar, kissing Thomas. The machine didn't recognise the time she was out at the sea or the explosion after she had kissed Thomas.

Confusion and frustration drove her for the next few hours. She could hold herself in most of her classes, but she began to crack during the last period. She was so frustrated that she threw her .22 gun forward when there's no bullet left.

"Hey - hey, hey, no PMS-ing in this class…." he looked at Teresa's target "….no matter how good you are at shooting, wow Teresa. Brilliant job."

Among the others, it was only Teresa that managed to hit bull's-eye repetitively, even in a moving target. He then looked around found a huge different between Teresa's target and Thomas'. Thomas was the worst; he couldn't hit any of it. Not even the 10 meters one. He hasn't change since day one. The teacher thought he was hopeless.

"Statistically speaking, you should've at least hit one of the target you know. Even if it was on the black line… even if it's on the 10 meters mark"

"Shut up, Archie, I'm not a big fan of shooting," he grumbled. Archimedes, or Archie for short, was one of the best kids when it comes to shooting. He was really good with all kind of tactic and strategy game, but when it comes to physical combat, he was the worst. He wasn't short or thin; he was taller and more macular than Thomas. He just had a terrible balance, his feet was probably too small or something. As Thomas took a glance to him, he thought to himself, maybe it was better to be like him, to ace the shooting skill and flunked the combat skill, because gun is more useful in a war than to fight hand-to-hand. Heck, you can pull the trigger with their toes he didn't care. He just wished that he didn't suck at shooting. Or at least, to be a little better.

He took a glanced at Teresa afterwards and felt a little embarrassed and amazed at the same time. That girl can do anything, he thought. He was thinking of asking her to teach, but then again, he knew something was bothering her.

"Hey Teresa. You ok?"

"Yeah, just got a bit frustrated," she said, trying to pulled a little smile from her face.

"For what?" Thomas paused and looked at her target, "You did…. extremely well"

"Yeah no, not that"

She paused, wandering if she should tell him - or anyone at all for that matters, what she had been experiencing during the simulation. She knew none of her classmate started underwater or had contact with the ocean for that matter, all of them started inside a lift. But she finally decided to kept it and asked what she missed when she skipped classes instead.

"So Tom, what did you guys do in battleground?"

"Yeah, yeah about that - I was about to tell you. We had to make a group project. We are in the same group with Minho, Gally, Newt, Frypan, Aris, Sonya, Harriet, Marie, Darwin, and Isaac" he counted through his fingers, trying to figured out if he missed anyone.

"That's a lot of people"

"Yeah it's a big project. We are designing a simulation, it's going to be hard. We divided the task already, you will be working to create the environment, including the buildings… since you are an architecture major."

"Have we decided what kind of simulation will be making?"

"Not yet, we had a few brief ideas, but none was fix, we were all waiting for you. I can show you some, and you can add your own ideas if you want. We will have meeting again soon anyway"

"That's cool. So when do we start?"

"Are you free today after school? We can just go straight away if you want"

"That sounds good," she said.

"Alright," Thomas then pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and wrote down his address. He jotted the detailed route and the colour of his building. He then handed it to Teresa and smiled,

"See you soon, yeah?"


End file.
